To Bobby, "Shantih, Shantih, Shantih": Bill Gaston's the Good Body‪.‬

After the opening battle with the Germanian barbarians in Gladiator, Caesar Marcus Aurelius says to General Maximus, "When death smiles at us, all we can do is smile back," a fitting summation of the warrior's code. But is it fitting to guffaw as much as readers do at Bill Gaston's well-received novel, The Good Body, the story of a forty-year-old career minor league hockey player, deteriorating and likely dying, not so young, from multiple sclerosis? (2) Indeed, Bobby "Loose" Bonaduce's wit maintains his sanity as he embarks on his dubious plan to redeem and recuperate his life, an attempt at an eight-month do-over of twenty wasted years: to reconcile with his wife, Leah; to bond with his college student son, Jason; and to become an MFA-credentialed writer. (3) While his fantasy goals won't be reached, Bonaduce does succeed in achieving peace of mind and tranquility of spirit to face his very finite future. MS: Memento Mori